SwitchBot Release Two New Matter Certified Relays
Whilst it can be argued that Matter has had a somewhat rocky road towards adoption, companies do continue to release Matter devices. Case in point is regarding Switchbot, who’ve announced two new smart relays with Matter over WiFi.
Relays of this type are ostensibly designed to sit behind switches or other hidden areas, allowing you to control what and make smart, what are essentially dumb devices. So, if you wired up one of these behind your regular dumb light switch, that switch would now be ‘smart’ without you having to swap out the switch itself for a smart one. Both variants of the switch directly support Matter (via WiFi) so a Switchbot hub is not required. However, they both also contain Bluetooth radios (a requirement for Matter devices anyway), which in this case will act as range extenders or repeaters for other Switchbot devices that use Bluetooth.
The difference between the two models is that the 1PM (orange) can be used for single channel circuits, which also includes energy monitoring, whilst the 1 (purple) is for situations where a dry circuit is required, which would also be useful for lower voltage items like doorbells, for example.
Whilst these are the first relay devices from Switchbot, this type of device has been around for a while, with Aqara offering models with and without the neutral wire required. Both models support the full range of voltage standards, going from 100~240V, although due to their shape, they’re really more suited for European switch boxes, which would explain why they’re only currently available on Amazon stores in the EU.
Both the 1PM and 1 relays are available to order now on Amazon.de and Amazon.es, with preordering available via Switchbot’s own website for other regions, selling for €21,99 and €19,99 respectively.
